For all those sports history buffs out there,
it was spring of 1995 when the rumors began to surface that Michael Jordan had
been practicing and contemplating a return. Not that the NBA had shut down for
the 17 months he had retired but it just didn’t seem to matter. I don’t
remember what I was watching but whatever it was cut away to an “extremely
important” news event about the return of MJ to the NBA. The news conference
went straight to MJ and with his billion dollar smile he just said “ I’M
BACK!!!”. All was good again and life seemed to be pumped back in to the NBA
after a 17month hangover.
I have been watching the flows come down the
last few weeks and had decided that if the Ark got below 500 I was going to get
out there this weekend. I saw on Friday the flows had dropped to 416 and I was
ready to go. I picked up a guide trip for Saturday morning and fished for
myself this morning. As with Michael, the talk for so many of the local anglers
has been about the return of the fishable flows and since the river does not
have any true voice, I would like to make a statement for Her…
I’M BACK!!!Signed the Ark
Yep, all is well for the anglers of the Ark.
On Saturday it took only a short time to figure out where the fish were feeding
and the diet was pretty much just the same as before the flows were at runoff
stage. True Blood, RS2, Ninja and the J-bomb were the flies over the last two
days. Saturday’s client, Dan is a saltwater guy from Florida and wanted to see
what the excitement was with the bows of the Rockies. Dan left with a smile and
a few good proof pics of the amazing time the Ark gave him. Dan hooked a few
small ones early and when we found where the toads were feeding it was
permagrin time. We were seeing the same soft mouth issue that we were dealing
with last June where Dan hooked 20 or more but only got six or eight to the
net. Dan caught his first ever brown(and then a couple more)and then landed his
largest rainbow ever that measured 19 inches. I hooked at least twenty this
morning and got about half to the net, with one brown and the biggest at about
17 inches. Yep, I’m such a great guide that I let my clients land bigger fish
than myself….
During the short layoff from the run off, Cat
and I had been discussing strategies for fishing when the river was fishable
again. Being that Cat is a biologist, it seems to her that everything that
happens on the river happens for a reason. One of the strategies that Cat
thinks I do well at is being able to think like a fish. As I was on the river
today I tried to stop and think about what the fish were thinking at this time
and this is what I came up with.
Trout
I’m hungry, I feel very safe behind these
rocks, oh..look at the pretty Golden Retriever, now I’ really hungry,
wow..there is a big juicy bug right there , owwww my mouth, run away, run away,
run away!! Or something like that.
Okay ,
maybe they were just feeling sorry for me and took my stuff but with the higher
flows there are a few things you want to think about. The fish are very much
like us and want the most for the littlest amount of work. The entire river
right now is a giant feeding lane so the fish seem to be looking for safety,
rest and protection. Next, when walking
the bank be careful, from the flows just coming down the banks are really muddy
and you need to really watch your step. And last, with summer temps on us, try
to hit the water early and late leave the fish alone during the mid day heat.
The bugs are more abundant early and late anyway. Winston was sure happy to get back to the water, it has been a month since he has been fishing and he was getting a little tired of watching reruns of our videos. As always, thanks for reading
and hope you have a great summer, Connell, Cat, Winston and The Drift Fly Shop…….
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